Aguilera wrote the lyrics in memory of her father. On radio station WAKS in Cleveland, Ohio, Aguilera said she was sorry because the last musical thing her father heard from her before he passed away was how she hated him for abusing her mother. She never got the chance to say "I'm sorry, I still love you" before he died. The grief caused so much pain that she wrote a song for him telling how she was sorry for blaming him for everything bad that happened in her parents' relationship.